Panetta: Debt threatens security, health care

Federal government

CIA Director Leon Panetta speaks at a gathering of The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, Friday, Oct. 23, 2009.(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

CIA Director Leon Panetta speaks at a gathering of The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, Friday, Oct. 23, 2009.(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez, AP

Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez, AP

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CIA Director Leon Panetta speaks at a gathering of The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, Friday, Oct. 23, 2009.(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

CIA Director Leon Panetta speaks at a gathering of The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, Friday, Oct. 23, 2009.(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez, AP

Panetta: Debt threatens security, health care

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CIA Director Leon Panetta warned Friday that the nation's ballooning federal debt threatens resources available for national security as well as education and health care, and that Americans should not expect "that we can remain a powerful nation" if the trend continues.

With the national debt heading toward $2 trillion, he warned, borrowing from other nations makes the United States more dependent on those countries and increases interest in U.S. debt.

Continued spending and borrowing, Panetta said, will ultimately hurt future generations, which will have to pay the interest on that debt.

Panetta's tough words came as the CIA director underscored the connection between the nation's security needs and its financial troubles. As a former OMB director, he said he is deeply concerned about patterns he has seen on national spending.

"There's always a tendency that when you borrow money, it becomes a bad habit," he said, adding that Democrats and Republicans alike must confront the issue.

Panetta's remarks came in a question-and-answer session during which one member of the audience demanded that he comment on reports that the CIA's remote-controlled Predator drones, which are used to kill suspected terrorists in Pakistan, have killed 750 to 1,000 civilians since 2006.

The CIA director - resisting efforts of security to eject the woman, saying he wanted to answer her question - denied the accuracy of the reports, saying, "All I can tell you is that is not true."

"The use (of drones) is very precise and limits collateral damage," he added. "We do not use it in the way that involves the numbers that you just described.

"We have targeted those who are enemies of the United States, and we have deliberately made sure that only those kinds of targets are the ones that we're going to go after."